One attorney said he believes the city should be getting more bang for its buck when it comes to the land it leases to the Balloon Fiesta.

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is New Mexico's signature event, and brings money and tourists to the state. Of all the millions taken in and spent by the Fiesta organization, the city directly gets back only a small portion.

Advertisement

The Balloon Fiesta is a nonprofit organization, and its tax documents are public record. It's no surprise that they show a highly successful event with more than $6 million in revenue in 2010.

Fiesta doesn't pay rent for Balloon Fiesta Park. Instead, it's required to make $50,000 in improvements to the park each year, which is about one percent of the Fiesta's revenue. That small percentage has some asking if it's fair compensation to the city and taxpayers.

"The question that comes into play is the city actually getting its benefit? You are dealing with a private company that is managing the Balloon Fiesta on a public facility," attorney Pete Dinelli said.

Dinelli represents several local food vendors who recently pulled out of this year's Balloon Fiesta after a hike in fees. He suggests that the city should get more if the Fiesta is charging more.

"If you use the same argument on the concessionaires, maybe the Balloon Fiesta should be giving one third of their revenues which would be about $1.2 for lease of the park itself," Dinelli said.

The city's Parks and Recreation Department said the Fiesta has submitted a list of improvements it has made, including fencing, parking signs, gate turnstiles, striping the parking lot and hill stabilization. The Fiesta values those improvements at $841,000 since 2007.

A Balloon Fiesta spokesman said the city and state also received the benefit of approximately $90 million in economic impact, $2 million in tax receipts and invaluable benefits for the city and taxpayers.

Dinelli recently requested the city take over vendor operations at Balloon Fiesta Park. The city's lease the Balloon Fiesta ends in October.